Republicans are using smoke and mirrors

I got a flyer from Sen. Gazelka yesterday. He stated that the Republicans created (with a straight face I might add) a $1 billion surplus without raising taxes.

This is partially true, but due to accounting restructuring, and I use the term tongue in cheek. When they tell you they “shift” an item, it usually disappears from the balance sheet. They don’t count the money owed to schools as an expense, therefore the surplus. Add in the IOUs to education and it’s a $2.2 billion deficit and add in the other items they kicked down the road and it’s a $4.4 billion deficit.

If Jamie Dimon from JP Morgan did this, investors would be all over him. So if you don’t care about your tax money, you deserve Paul Gazelka. Maybe Gazelka didn’t get the memo that raising property taxes is raising taxes. — John Snell, Motley